News Round Up: More Mists of Pandaria Interviews and New TCG Decks

MMORPG.com Interview with Rob Foote about Mists of Pandaria

During BlizzCon this year, we had the chance to sit down with Rob Foote, Senior Game Producer on World of Warcraft. Rob deals mostly with the art team, but as all producers can tell you, he knows quite a bit about the design as a whole surrounding Blizzard’s latest expansion: Mists of Pandaria. We set out a few difficult questions to Rob, but he was pretty apt to answer them, and we think you’ll like the outcome.

MMORPG.com: The very first thing we asked? Pandaria… Pandarens… why?

Rob Foote: They’ve been something we’ve wanted to do for a long time, especially artistically. Ever since Warcraft III, people were drawn to them. We started on the model five years ago, and it just sat there in the archives. Cataclysm was over and we wanted something different, and Pandaria made a lot of sense because the Pandas are so “big” thematically that they overshadowed the “big bad”. And we really wanted to get into a sort of Asian-influenced theme.

MMORPG.com: Was there a conscious decision to go with an Asian slant, considering the massive Asian market that WoW has?Rob Foote: The simple fact that everyone’s on the same version now, from a technological standpoint is really incredible. Having to support all those regions, and just, get everything working like that has been a milestone. I don’t think however that we went at Pandaren for any other reason that saying, “We like these guys, they’re cool.” Plus with an Asian-themed expansion, there’s just so much to draw from and bring into WoW from all of Asia. Early Nightelf stuff sort of hinted at that kind of tone, but we really see Pandaria as a chance to really dive into it. I do think Asian cultures will dig it, but we fully expect every region to really be down with it. It’s iconic, you know?

MMORPG.com: For the art team, how did you approach designing the Monk? I think everyone has their own ideas on what that class should be like, so how do you sit down and put it to work?

Rob Foote: The Monk made the most sense once we really settled on designing the Pandaren. It’s very funny, because first was just using Pandaria. Then it was, can we make them a playable race? And then we asked, how about making a new class? Once we realized that we could pull it off in one expansion, we looked at a lot of references, like Kung Fu movies for one. It’s a very distinct feel. The Brew Master has the Drunken Stance, and it opens up a whole slew of new animations. In fact, the entire class is new animations. In other classes, you may have about ten spells all using the same basic character animation with just a different effect. With the monk, everything looks different and every move has its own unique animation. We want the Monk to feel distinct from every other class, and the fighting class style is how we do this. No auto-attack and all of that really play into making them unique.

MMORPG.com: Will the art team have free will with the new Pet System? Can you just go nuts designing new pets now, or is it more restrained?

Rob Foote: Well, we’re trying really hard to make sure every single pet in the game already is able to fight come launch day. They all share the same animation rig, so we’ll be able to animate them all really easily. Plus the combat is turn-based so we can focus on making all of these cool skills for different pets. Some may share a lot of them, but expect the ones that come post-launch to have their own unique skills. Oh, and that Murkablo all BlizzCon attendees got? He’ll be fighting too.

MMORPG.com: How does the Talent System 2.0 impact the art side of the team?

Rob Foote: Oh man… there’s so much work created for us. There’s a whole new UI to the thing, plus all of these new icons, new spells and effects. But really, since we have a lot of it in place already, we’re now just polishing it, and we’ll adjust it based on feedback from the beta whenever it gets rolling.

MMORPG.com: Do you think it may be simplifying the Talents too much though?

Rob Foote: That’s a fair question and I can see why people are worried. But we think of it as though it’s taking away the meaningless 1%, 2%, 3% stat boosts and giving players some truly interesting choices to make. You won’t have these cookie-cutter builds based on the min-maxer’s idea of what’s best for what dungeon. Like Diablo III, we think that the new talent system may scare people at first as it seems like there are less choices to make, but really it’s now about making sure those choices matter. It will add a lot more character customization, and I’m not talking just stats, but how your entire character plays. That’s a good thing.

MMORPG.com: The PR guy is wrapping us up, so I guess that’s it for us, Rob. Thanks for taking the time out of the insanely busy show to chat with us.

Rob Foote: My pleasure guys! Thanks for the good questions.

New WoW TCG Dungeon Packs

The World of Warcraft Trading Card Game is releasing three new dungeons for you to explore and reclaim. Form a party with two friends to take on Lord Godfrey, Scarlet Commander Mograine, and Vanessa Van Cleef. You don't need a pilot for the Dungeon Deck. The deck plays itself! You can customize the Dungeon Deck for difficulty and your hero will level up as you gain experience. Spend those experience points improving your deck and adding cards. So, group up and strike a blow to the enemy. For the Horde! For the Alliance! For the Monsters!

Shadowfang Keep

“Weakness… that is all you have managed to show me. Genn, you and those other disgusting mongrels that plague Gilneas, I sought death before I would serve you again. Enter the Banshee Queen, Sylvanas. You showed your true nature when you allowed Crowley to leave with his life, and so I took yours instead. You would do well to remember all that I have done, but if you still dare to enter my keep, all you will find is the lonely silence of death.” – Lord Godfrey

Scarlet Monastery

“Can you not see it, brothers and sisters? There is but one way to wipe the Scourge from the face of Azeroth. The Scarlet Crusade offers you the protection that you so desperately desire, and if you will pledge yourself to us, surely we will reach our ultimate goal. Defy us, and you will be dispatched in a blaze of golden light unlike any you have ever witnessed. My father, known to many as the Ashbringer, one of the most powerful paladins ever to walk the path of the Light, fell to my hand. What hopes could you possibly have, if even he could not stand against us?” – Scarlet Commander Mograine

The Deadmines

“Lies, greed, and deception—these are the things that my father stood against. For years, he worked tirelessly, helping to rebuild your devastated city, and what thanks did he or anyone else get for it? Nothing. What choice did they have but to turn on those who the crown favored to get payment, one way or another? Fate, it would seem, has led me down this path. Even with the murder of my father, your foolish attempts to destroy the Defias have been in vain. I am, now more than ever, my father’s daughter, and the Defias Brotherhood will rise once more…” – Vanessa Van Cleef

Treasure Pack

The Dungeon Decks are supported by the Dungeon Deck Treasure Pack. Loot equipment, allies, abilities, and epics from these nine-card treasure chests. Every card is a foil! You'll find the dungeon bosses in tournament-legal card form. Cookie, Mograine, Godfrey, and Vanessa Van Cleef are just some of the allies you'll be able to recruit. You'll also find many cards that support your multiplayer dungeoneering experience as well as your one-on-one tournament duels. And for your World of Warcraft Cataclsym players out there in computerland, each Treasure Pack could hold one of these three Loot cards: the Wasteland Tallstrider mount, Fool's Gold item, and Landro's Lichling pet. There are 60 cards total to collect (30 common, 15 uncommon, 9 rare, and 6 epic), so start your dungeon crawl today!

Artwork Gallery

Vanessa Van Cleef

Lord Godfrey

Alexandros Mograine

Defias Watcher

High Inquisitor Whitemane

2011 Pumpkin Contest Winners

The winners of this year's pumpkin-carving contest have been chosen -- and they're monstrously spectacular. We'd like to thank everyone who participated this year, and we can't wait to see your mad scientist skills in action again next time around. Check out all of the creepy, incredible, and creative winning pumpkins here.

Comentario de nik666

Comentario de Patchingko

So we entered the pumpkin contest with what I thought was a pretty awesome Diablo rendition. These winners blow ours out of the water. :(

Is the card game any fun? It's looking to get more and more interesting... I like the idea of my wife and I getting to play together to defeat a dungeon. Any thoughts?

Comentario de OverZealous

on 2011-11-01T04:35:42-05:00

So we entered the pumpkin contest with what I thought was a pretty awesome Diablo rendition. These winners blow ours out of the water. :(

They are pretty damn good T_T

Good answers in general regarding Mists of Pandaria; hope that a few of the MUST-HATE-PANDA-people will take time to actually read and consider this. It does seem pretty thought-out, no matter how stupid some people may think adding Panda-based creatures to the game is.Also interested about the unique Monk animations; I really hope they don't scrap it like they did Path of the Titans due to it "not working", because I'd be very happy to play a class that feels unique, and looks unique.

Comentario de kehaha

on 2011-11-02T12:57:14-05:00

i always want to have a cute pet like "Guardian Cub", hope i can win one with me. love wow

Comentario de Interest

on 2011-11-02T14:18:13-05:00

i always want to have a cute pet like "Guardian Cub", hope i can win one with me. love wow

Comentario de viocot

Comentario de gnomesmacker

So we entered the pumpkin contest with what I thought was a pretty awesome Diablo rendition. These winners blow ours out of the water. :(

Is the card game any fun? It's looking to get more and more interesting... I like the idea of my wife and I getting to play together to defeat a dungeon. Any thoughts?

The card game is a lot of fun, plus you can get the loot cards and either use them on your characters or sell them (for upwards of $200-300).If you get into it, you might want to look into if there's a local battlegrounds group, which is like a for-fun tournament every week, pretty fun.